White Cube

An SPCA shelter in Scotland is looking for someone to adopt this giant rabbit. The internet is going crazy. THE RABBIT IS HUGE! [Jezebel]

Is a Rotterdam museum’s new open art storage facility a game changer for cultural institutions? Set to open in 2018, the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen’s storage space will enable its entire collection to be viewable to the public, a first in the institutional world. And 10% of its storage will be rented out to private collectors for €350 to €400 per square meter. Beyond the potential conflicts of interest, this seems like a win-win situation — collectors get access to conservation services, the museum gets more private investment and artwork loan opportunities. [The Art Newspaper]

Sergei Shchukin amassed one of the most impressive collections of modern art in the early 20th century. After the Russian revolution, those artworks were scattered to state-owned museums. Now, they’re being reunited for a show at the very-capitalist Louis Vuitton museum in Paris—the first time the collection has ever been shown outside of Russia. [The Guardian]

According to Kate Wadkins, punk is in the air: she surveys the current wave of shows, including PUNK Magazine’s 40th anniversary exhibition at HOWL! Happening and a collection of West Coast punk-related Xerox prints and zines at Printed Matter. [Hyperallergic]

There is a genre of fan fiction known as “Larry” that imagines a homoerotic relationship between two members of the boy band One Direction. London artist Owen G Parry has used this material (mostly written by teenage girls) as inspiration for his latest exhibition. Picture pregnant Harry Styles, and you get an idea of how very, very weird this is. [The Telegraph]

My Art Basel experience will sound familiar to almost everyone following the fair. After a day at Art Basel Miami, most dealers I spoke to still had work available. That’s not to say that sales were slow— just slower than the usual mad rush we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years. According to art consultant Josh Baer, that’s not because the art was bad, but because collectors have become more thoughtful.

Yeah right. Collectors have not suddenly transformed into more curious and discerning people. They’re just not oblivious to the obvious: most of the art on view looked like B-rate work we’d seen a hundred times already. Even people who have nothing to do all day but buy things will eventually get bored of that.

Halfway through The Armory Show I was so bored I was composing headlines with the words “skip it”, and yet by the end of the day a jubilance filled the air as dealers started to report strong sales. Are we in another art bubble?